Jonathan Alder’s Mary Ferrito (4) drives to the basket against North Union on Wednesday. Pictured for the Lady Cats are Zoe Wedding (12) and Jada Davis (far right). JA won, 51-36. (Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
Jonathan Alder girls basketball coach Allen Eggleston and his North Union counterpart, Bre Jackson, agreed on a key reason for the Lady Pioneers’ 51-36 victory Wednesday night at Jonathan Alder.
“Getting turnovers created a lot of opportunities for us,” Eggleston said. “We used defense to create offense.”
“Too many turnovers,” Jackson said, adding offensive rebounds by Alder also played into the final count.
According to North Union’s stat sheet, the Lady Pioneers (2-2) scored 16 points from turnovers and nine markers on second-chance efforts.
“Too many turnovers and offensive rebounds and that is it right there,” Jackson said.
Those two facts helped Alder to dominate the second half, outscoring North Union (2-1) 27-15 over the final two quarters.
“We had better defensive discipline in the second half and we were a lot more crisp,” Eggleston said.
But there was one other factor that may have led to the second-half surge.
A buzzer-beating, three-point field goal by Evan Platfoot allowed the Lady Pioneers to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“That shot created a huge momentum shift for us,” Eggleston said.
Buoyed by Platfoot’s field goal, Alder scored the first nine points of the third quarter.
Mary Ferrito started the run with a drive-for-two on Alder’s first possession.
Platfoot hit another trey and netted a two-point goal and Ferrito finished the spurt with a layup.
A scoring drive by Abbey Price got North Union its first points of the quarter.
Katie Hooley, however, connected from behind the arc to give Alder a 36-23 lead with 1:43 left in the quarter.
North Union closed the gap to 36-29 before the end of the frame on a pair of baskets by Price.
The seven-point difference was as close as the Lady Cats would get the rest of the way as the Lady Pioneers steadily increased their lead.
A three-point play by Ferrito made it 41-29.
A six-point run, capped by Platfoot’s back-door cut, jumped the count to 47-31 with 4:06 remaining to play.
A three-point goal by NU’s Aubrey Benedict with just under two minutes left made it 49-36.
The Lady Cats, though, could not add to its count the rest of the way.
“The win got us back on the winning track,” Eggleston said.
Jackson is hoping for that same back-on-top look after suffering the first loss of the season.
“We will come back (Saturday at Benjamin Logan) with a clear head for the next game,” Jackson said.
Neither team was able to gain an advantage in the first half as the largest margin between to the teams was four points.
North Union scored the first four points on baskets by Benedict and Taran Moran.
Alder tallied the next seven markers en route to a 13-11 lead at the end of the first eight minutes.
The Lady Cats regained the lead at 17-16 in the second quarter on a three-point goal by Benedict.
The game was tied at 21-21 with six seconds left, setting up Platfoot’s three-point goal.
Platfoot led all scorers with 22 points, while Ferrito finished with 16.
Price paced North Union with 16 points, while Benedict tallied eight.
North Union won the junior varsity game 30-27.
Allison Price had nine points to lead the Lady Cats.
Natalie Walker scored 13 for the Lady Pioneers.
NORTH UNION
Benedict 3-0-8, Davis 0-0-0, Ab. Price 6-4-16, Wedding 1-0-3, Hall 0-0-0, Moran 2-0-4, Al. Price 2-0-5. Three-point goals: Benedict 2, Al. Price, Wedding.
JONATHAN ALDER
Keefer 0-1-1, Ferrito 6-3-16, Platfoot 8-2-22, Hooley 2-2-8, Murdock 1-0-2, Miller 0-2-2. Three-point goals: Platfoot 4, Hooley 2, Ferrito.